Rick Santorum to Serve as National Spokesperson for Give Cures

Coralville, IA - Rick Santorum, Chairman of Patriot Voices, announced today that he will serve as the national spokesperson for Give Cures -- The John Paul II Stem Cell Research Institute, an organization founded to focus on alternative stem cell research that respects the dignity of every human life. The John Paul II Stem Cell Research Institute conducts only ethical adult stem cell research and focuses on "therapeutic research" to finding cures and therapies for people with rare diseases, cancer and Alzheimer's. Give Cures connects people, patients, and partners to the life-saving and ethical adult stem cell research of the Institute.

This announcement comes in conjunction with the launch of a new Give Cures campaign that will raise funds for research, outreach, education and donor matching. In addition there are plans to open a cord blood bank to help patients who need a stem cell match. With the support of Give Cures, mothers will be able to donate their newborn's cord blood that may provide a life-saving stem cell match. Cord blood is not embryonic and provides an ethical approach to stem cell science.

Rick Santorum said, "I'm honored to serve as the national spokesperson for Give Cures, the John Paul II Stem Cell Research Institute. It's exciting to be a part of innovative research that uses cutting-edge, disease-specific adult stem cells to find treatments for rare diseases and cancer. Human life at the earliest stage is still a life -- valued, loved, and created by God, and I believe to use and kill a human embryo for research is wrong. Creating ethical stem cell lines for people with rare diseases is ethical and innovative. Our mission simply put is to find cures while giving value to the dignity of every life. Through the Institute's 'Give Cures' campaign, we will be doing more than find cures - we will also protect life."

"I commend those who work for rigorous and fact-based science and for progress in biotechnologies and medical therapies that honor and affirm the value, worth, and dignity of every individual member of the human community. We must speak expressly for those at the 'edges of life' who have no voice," Santorum concluded.